


After All This Time (I'm Still Into You)

by youarenotmybus



Category: Twin Peaks
Genre: Canon Divergence, Cooper is So Whipped, Drabble, F/M, FBI Agent Audrey Horne, Post-Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:27:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25290886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youarenotmybus/pseuds/youarenotmybus
Summary: Dale Cooper is an instructor at the FBI Academy when a certain figure from his past shows up as a new trainee.
Relationships: Dale Cooper & Audrey Horne, Dale Cooper/Audrey Horne
Comments: 8
Kudos: 25





	After All This Time (I'm Still Into You)

For Special Agent Dale Cooper, the first day with a new group of students is equal parts thrill and terror.

Thrill for the prospect of working with new blood, of guiding those who have dreamed of this all their lives. Terror for the bright eyes he sees in the crowd of first-day students. He knows overtime those bright eyes will fade like his did. 

He remembers his own first day at Quantico, his blood pumping with unadulterated adrenaline. You think nothing can ever steal your zest or quell your passion for the career. You truly believe that the enthusiasm running through your veins is boundless. But sooner or later, the totality of all you’ve seen catches up with you.

Cooper has to give himself credit; it took a harrowing foray into an anomalous extradimensional realm to finally break him. But break him it did.

After managing to escape the Red Room and return to the real world, Cooper knew instantaneously that Laura Palmer was his last assignment. Gordon pulled a few strings for him and got him a position instructing new students at the academy, and that was that. His days as a field agent are behind him.

He would be lying if he said he doesn’t miss it sometimes. And by it, he doesn’t just mean the job. Twin Peaks, too. But he can never go back to either. He counts himself lucky that he managed to avoid going completely over the edge like Windom Earle. Cooper once was a man who pushed luck. Not anymore.

Standing before him now is a group of fresh students, their eagerness diluted by only the slightest bit of apprehension. He wishes for some way to warn them, to let them know that this particular life takes far more of you than it ever returns. But as he knows all too well, there are some things that can only be learned through experience. So he soldiers on, ready to begin the program.

“Hello everyone. Gentleman, ladies,” he says, tipping his head. “My name is Agent Dale Cooper, and I’ll be instructing you in the methods of operating firearms efficienctly, and safely. I understand that everyone’s individual experience with firearms may be varied. Not to worry, I’ll be taking this into account upon your initial evaluation.”

Cooper feels a metaphorical sigh of release through the crowd. He suppresses a chuckle, then proceeds to show them the standard-issue pistol they’ll each receive upon graduation. 

“We’ll be starting off with a little target practice. That way I can get a feel for what I’ve gotten myself into.” The levity dissipates the tension in the air, if only slightly. Cooper always attempts humor with his new students. Some conviviality to lighten the mood never hurt anybody.

He runs through the basics of firearm safety, the words rolling off his tongue all too easily after the number of trainees he’s regaled with this speech. The rehearsed, predictable aspect of the job is quite the shift from what he was doing before. The uncertainty of his former profession was as addictive as it was unsettling. However, not unlike a substance addiction, all it takes is one bad trip for a person to call it quits.

Enraptured in thought, Cooper doesn’t even see the girl before him until her voice calls him to attention. He’s not as sharp and as he used to be.

“First you leave without saying goodbye, and now you’re not gonna say hello?”

In that moment, every hair on his body stands on end.

Though the girl’s words are accusing, there’s a distinctly playful tone to them. A tone that belongs solely to...

“Audrey?” 

He’s gone full-on Windom Earle. He’s lost his marbles, each and every one of them. He has to have actually gone insane after all, because there’s no other explanation for why he’s seeing Audrey Horne with his own two eyes.

“At your service,” she says, adding a mock salute. She hasn’t lost even an ounce of that tonuge-in-cheek humor.

Even though she’s had to swap her usual skirts and sweaters for a standard issue uniform, he still can’t take his eyes off her. She’s just as enchanting in her slacks and blue polo, complete with an FBI seal emblazoned on the chest. It would appear that you can’t dull the magic of Audrey Horne, no matter what you dress it in.

He knows she somehow managed to survive the explosion at the Savings and Loan. That isn’t why he’s surprised to see her. He’s surprised because after five years apart, he’s had to make peace with the fact that their paths would most likely never cross again. But here she is, standing before him, one of the newest recruits at the FBI Academy.

“Well? What do you have to say for yourself, Special Agent?”

There’s a million things he’d like to say. Unfortunately, each and every one of them gets caught in his throat. Speechless is not a word he usually applies to himself, but there’s a first time for everything.

“Just for your information, I don’t talk to all my superiors like this. Only ones who leave without a farewell,” she teases.

Finally, he manages a laugh. “Audrey, I must admit that out of all the things I expected to see today, you did not make the list.”

“Well, since you wouldn’t whisk me away to a life of mystery and international intrigue, I finally had to take it upon myself to find it.” The grin she gives him is nothing short of infectious.

Now that he thinks about it, it’s no wonder she’s shown up at the academy. He’d always known her attempts at sleuthing were more than a way to garner his attention. She’d consistently shown an honest-to-goodness aptitude for it. And he remembers the fascination with which she regarded Denise Bryson. _“They have women agents?” _she’d gasped in disbelief. He smiles at the memory.__

__“I can’t tell you how glad I am you did,” he says softly, and it isn’t a lie._ _

__There’s no denying she’s a reminder of Twin Peaks, of everything that happened in that small, unassuming town with a dark underbelly. But her smile is also a reminder of all the good things this world still has to offer._ _

__“I suppose there’s still a class for you to teach, and me to attend,” she remarks, gesturing vaguely around the room. Though she’s kidding, he’s grateful for the reminder. He’d almost forgotten._ _

__She takes her practice gun before walking to her target. Her gaze still lingers on him and vice versa. After all this time there’s that same musicality to the sway of her hips, even when she’s merely walking._ _

__He spends the rest of the class hoping he doesn’t appear as useless as he feels. Try as he may, his thoughts (and eyes) continue to drift. Repeatedly._ _

__He’d told himself he would never lay eyes on her again. Audrey Horne was to remain a memory, like a sweet dream left to linger eternally in the recesses of his mind. The soft arch of her eyebrows, the beguiling curve of her lips, the beauty mark on the left side of her face. These were all details he’d committed to memory, certain he’d seen them for the last time at the Miss Twin Peaks Contest. And yet here they are, in his life once more._ _

__When it comes time for her evaluation, it takes everything in him not to lose his remaining shred of professionalism. He tries his best to focus on the instructions he needs to be giving her._ _

__“Lean forward a bit,” he says. His hand ghosts against her waist, never quite making contact. “It’ll help you manage recoil.”_ _

__She nods, adjusting her stance. If she feels any of the tension he does, she doesn’t show it. She’s learned how to keep her cards close to her chest._ _

__“Excellent grip. Firm, but not too firm,” he compliments. “Too tight of a grip and the trigger finger is partially immobilized.”_ _

__Worrying that he’s too close, he moves away, lest anyone think there’s anything improper going on. But despite his best efforts to concentrate, every inch of distance between them feels like an inch too many._ _

__After everything looks to be in order, Audrey shoots, and with deadly aim. She hits the bullseye right on. A familiar warmth spreads through his stomach, and pride tugs the corners of his lips upward. Audrey never does anything halfway._ _

__“What do you think, Special Agent?” she says, turning to face him. She looks up at him from underneath her eyelashes, blue eyes undoing him and putting him back together simultaneously._ _

__He clears his throat. “Good work, Audrey.” His voice sounds like it belongs to someone else entirely._ _

__Good god, he needs to get a hold of himself.  
____ _

__Later that night, he finds himself outside Audrey’s dormitory, despite trying to talk himself out of it. Multiple times. She’d told him which one was hers, in case he ever “needed anything.” He hopes that asking her to dinner qualifies as needing something._ _

__When she opens the door, he sees that she’s changed out of her uniform. Now she’s in a sweater, but has ditched the skirts in favor of jeans. This is perhaps the most casual he’s ever seen Audrey Horne (besides the time he found her clad in nothing but his sheets). She still manages to exude confidence without her former bravado._ _

__“Agent Cooper,” she greets him. She braces one hand against the doorway, leaning nonchalantly to the side. “I didn’t expect you so soon.”_ _

__“I could say the same about you,” he jokes. They share a laugh, never breaking eye contact. Not even when the laughter fades. They’re at a standstill, neither one sure of what to say next. They may be old friends, but he feels as if they’re just meeting for the very first time. He supposes they are, in a way._ _

__He’s not sure if he wants Audrey to meet the new him. But he definitely, beyond a shadow of a doubt wants to know the new her._ _

__“How would you feel about dinner tonight?” he asks, at last._ _

__“I don’t see why not,” she answers coyly, shifting to lean against the other side of the doorframe. “As long as no one else finds out. I don’t want anyone thinking I’m getting any special privileges from the instructor.” There’s a familiar, mischievous glint in her eye, one that appears every time she teases him. It puts every memory of her on rewind._ _

__“No need to fret, Audrey. I make it a rule never to extend special privileges, even to the prettiest of trainees.”_ _

__Audrey’s face is radiant, lit up with all the brilliance of a supernova._ _

__“Well, in that case...”_ _

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, that title is indeed a Paramore reference. My middle school emo self would be proud.


End file.
